Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Mendicant \Men"di*cant\, a. [L. mendicans, -antis, p. pr. of
   mendicare to beg, fr. mendicus beggar, indigent.]
   Practicing beggary; begging; living on alms; as, mendicant
   friars.

   {Mendicant orders} (R. C. Ch.), certain monastic orders which
      are forbidden to acquire landed property and are required
      to be supported by alms, esp. the Franciscans, the
      Dominicans, the Carmelites, and the Augustinians.